Inclusive Prom

Inclusive Prom

by | Nov 9, 2022

Inclusive Prom

GPS Project

Project Description

Inclusive Prom will offer a free opportunity for high schoolers in the Acadiana region to meet students from other schools and build community. Many teenagers in our area, including those who are LGBTQ+, will not be able to go to their proms as themselves or with the date of their choice. Inclusive Prom offers an opportunity for high schoolers who would benefit from an alternate prom experience to come together to celebrate their authentic selves and each other. This community event will benefit our community by creating a safe space for LGBTQ+ and other marginalized youth where they can be accepted as themselves, where they can see there are people in the community that support them, and where teenagers from different schools can meet, furthering a sense of community.

Inclusive Prom will be a free 3 hour event hosted at a local venue in Lafayette, open to all high school students in the Acadiana region. Music, dancing, and snacks will be offered. There will be a photo station offering free selfie opportunities and paid-for photo packages. By offering a safe and inclusive space for youth in the community to feel accepted as themselves, we hope to build up and support young people who may not have other sources of support.

The challenges facing youth today are unprecedented. There has been a dramatic increase in mental health concerns for teenagers. This is even more true in the LGBTQ+ community. According to the Trevor Project’s 2022 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health, 45% of LGBTQ youth seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year. LGBTQ youth who live in a community that is accepting of LGBTQ people reported significantly lower rates of attempting suicide than those who do not. By hosting this community event, we can hopefully help to reduce suicide rates of LGBTQ+ youth in our community by demonstrating a safe place of acceptance and support.

Project Details

Team Leader: Acadiana Queer Collective, LLC – Wendy Dorfman, Brandi Ortiz, Kelly Noyes, Monet David, Peyton Michelle, Jess Allain
Funded Date: November 5, 2022
Amount: $4,000
Location: Lafayette, LA

Pitch

Progress

(% completed since funding)

%

Dear Community Letters

Project Updates

No Results Found

The page you requested could not be found. Try refining your search, or use the navigation above to locate the post.

Discover More Projects

Browse

Sensory Safe Spaces

Sensory Safe Spaces

by | Nov 9, 2022

Sensory Safe Spaces

GPS Project

Project Description

The sights and sounds of a festival or any large scale event can be very overwhelming, especially when there’s nowhere to retreat to. Think of a Mardi Gras Parade…you’ve been standing all day, the music hasn’t stopped, you may be hungry, cold…hot…like you want to crawl out of your skin…You don’t want to leave the parade for good but your brain is telling you: I just need a minute!! Or, what if you are in a wheelchair and need to change, but there’s no accessible changing station close by? This is where Team Sensory Safe Spaces comes in.

Team Sensory Safe Spaces will team up with that particular event to provide an inclusive space for ALL to rest, refresh, and decompress before enjoying more of the event. At these designated spaces, there will be sensory tents (hello shade and decreased noise), sensory bags to be given out (think fidgets, sunglasses, earplugs, gum), calming activities (art, sensory bins, and bubble machines) and much more to ensure that those who may be overwhelmed or just need a break can still experience and enjoy their time.

One key (and hopeful) feature of the space will be to provide a changing area for individuals who are in wheelchairs or still have difficulty with bowel and bladder control. There will be a designated tent (not necessarily at the main location) that can still provide the appropriate accommodations and autonomy that everyone else has at an event. We all need and deserve an opportunity to take a break and chill at large scale events. To date, there is nothing like this in our community. The Beluga Project, in conjunction with Festival International, helped create the first space like this at Festival in April 2022. The positive feedback we received throughout and the call to do more of this is apparent, however, we need funding to make this space work over and over, not just one time. From durable tents, to filling the sensory bags, we need our community to help make this happen…one inclusive event at a time. Thank you 24 Citizen Project for helping make this happen!

Project Details

Team Leader: David Pilon
Funded Date: November 5, 2022
Amount: $3,000
Location: Lafayette, LA

Pitch

Progress

(% completed since funding)

%

Dear Community Letters

Project Updates

No Results Found

The page you requested could not be found. Try refining your search, or use the navigation above to locate the post.

Discover More Projects

Browse

Creole Garsons

Creole Garsons

by | Nov 6, 2021

Creole Garsons

Project Description

Project Creole Garsons aims to increase male participation in the performing arts. There are several socially-constructed circumstances that negatively impact male participation. This scholarship program will work to eliminate many of these barriers by exposing the participants to a series of workshops and classes in a variety of artistic genres mostly led by male professional artists. The participants will then apply their knowledge in their artistic area(s) of interests. The program will culminate in the boys’ own artistic performance or production work being featured in the Creole Nutcracker.
The Creole Nutcracker was born out of the hearts of its two creators whose main purpose is to further expose the youth of Acadiana to the arts. The production is seasoned with the food, the language, and the music of the charming Creole culture. Each participant has an opportunity to perform on stage or work behind the scenes getting first-hand experience in a variety of different forms of the arts. Since 2018, The Creole Nutcracker has educated over 200 young performers as cast members. In these 4 years, 191 of the 200 young artists were female, and only 9 were male.
In our goal of exposing and educating the youth of Acadiana to the arts, we have been missing the mark with our young male population. Project Creole Garsons was created to fix this problem. The report Living the Arts through Language + Learning showed that young people with high arts involvement were 4 times more likely to be recognized for academic achievement, 4 times more likely to participate in a math and science fair, 3 times more likely to win an award for school attendance, and 3 times more likely to be elected to class office. All students deserve the opportunity to take part in the arts, both in school and in the community. The arts encourage students to: stay in school, succeed in school, succeed in life and succeed in work. It is proven that the arts benefit a child’s social development and academic achievement. And we need more boys in Acadiana getting these benefits!
There are several socially-constructed circumstances that negatively impact male participation in the arts. This scholarship program will work to eliminate many of these barriers by exposing the participants to a series of workshops and classes in a variety of artistic genres mostly led by male professional artists. The participants will then apply their knowledge in their artistic area(s) of interests. The program will culminate in the boys’ own artistic performance or production work being featured in the Creole Nutcracker. Creole Garsons is designed to foster creativity in more young men, and give them outlets for self-expression. From ballet to hip-hop and lighting to stage management, our program has something that will inspire tous les garsons.

Project Details

Team Leaders: Leigha Porter / Jazmyn Jones
Funded Date: November 6, 2021
Amount: $2,500
Location: Lafayette, LA

Pitch

Progress

(% completed since funding)

%

See Updates

Dear Community Letters

Project Updates

No Results Found

The page you requested could not be found. Try refining your search, or use the navigation above to locate the post.

Discover More Projects

Browse

Veggie On The Go

Veggie On The Go

by | Dec 29, 2019

Veggie On The Go

Project Description

The goal  of the “Veggie on the Go” is to provide fresh, healthier food options to residents of food desert areas in North Lafayette, including McComb-Veazey, LaPlace, Fightingville, Freetown and other neighborhoods. Our project seeks to address the food insecurity found across our community causing many to live within food deserts. We plan to sell the produce grown and acquired from the McComb Veazy farm, Earth Share Garden, local growers and if needed from other local produce stands in the area. Our goal is to offer healthy food options with recommendations of menus and healthy lifestyle changes. 

We plan to partner our veggie bike with other food entrepreneurs in the community. To bring better access to resources to improve the health of the residents we interact with at the pop-ups.  We plan to host veggie pop-ups in the community due to limited access to grocery stores or healthy food options such as restaurants, juice bars, etc. To lower the barrier on purchasing veggies, the Veggie on the Go project plans to accept cash, credit card, or EBT card. We will also develop a system to allow those who don’t have the means to pay for their vegetables.

Some of our initial partners plan to use the veggie acquired for distribution in special pop-up menus and help create healthier lifestyles by providing nutritional facts and recipes. We want this project to be a catalyst for a new food movement in North Lafayette. One that builds an equitable workforce and open new doors for social entrepreneurs both young and old to get their produce or products directly to customers who need them.

Project Details

Team Leader: Trincella Bonnet
Funded Date: November 9, 2019
Funding Amount: $3,000
Location: Lafayette, LA

Pitch

Progress

(% completed since funding)

%

See Updates

Dear Community Letters

Project Updates

No Results Found

The page you requested could not be found. Try refining your search, or use the navigation above to locate the post.

Media

Discover More Projects

 
Browse

Longest Table

Longest Table

by | Aug 15, 2018

Project Description

Team ‘Longest Table’ was funded $3,100 during the 24 Hour Citizen Project in 2018. As the national trend of civil discourse declines, having authentic cross-racial conversations is becoming increasingly more difficult. Without the ability to have open conversations, we further the divide with “the other side.” We believe there is an opportunity to unite our community through the breaking of bread. By leveraging our community’s unique relationship with food and sharing meals, we can break down walls and lead to impactful cross-racial conversation. When participants honestly exchange perspectives face-to-face, share personal experiences, and clarify viewpoints, our community moves one step closer to overcoming our division. Participants from many facets of the community will gather to share a meal and engage in meaningful dialogue aimed at helping people overcome the hump of having their first cross-racial conversation. The community-wide effort is designed to bolster understanding in challenging times. Our goal is to equip them with the necessary tools and resources to navigate difficult conversations; using food as a commonality and familial bind that creates space for trust and an honest exchange of ideas and experiences. We know this will not create immediate solutions, but through these meals, we invite discovery, the reevaluation of assumptions and the improvement of race relations. We strive to create authentic human connection and engagement through conversation. Through these unique experiences,  we hope to attain our goal to “move people along the continuum from uninformed to informed, from informed to concerned, and from concerned to active.”

Project Details

Team Leaders Ashley Mudd and Skyra Rideaux
Funded Date August 11, 2018
Location: Lafayette, LA

View Final Report

Pitch

 Progress

(% completed since funding)

%

See Updates

Dear Community Letters

(Project Updates)

Final Update Forthcoming!

No Results Found

The page you requested could not be found. Try refining your search, or use the navigation above to locate the post.

The Fun